S2KIP

Hi all, I went over to Germany this weekend. The weather was glorious, so I had the roof down and windows up to stop the wind. But anything over 120 mph or so and the car was not very stable at all. I managed to get to 130 mph but quite frankly it felt dangerous. The car felt wallowy and slow to react to steering inputs. So I tried with the roof up, and over 100 mph the wind noise from the top of the window was deafening.

I have a rear spoiler on the car (little OEM one) but I gather that this is aerodynamic related? Is there a cheap mod I can do at the front to make it feel more safe? I'll be heading over at leat another time this year, maybe twice and I want to be able to 'stretch its legs' when I get an opportunity on the autobahn.

jimmyb1978

I'd check over the basics first. Tyres, shocks, brakes geo etc. make sure they are all in good order then look for other issues.
I've ran higher speeds on oem shocks and I've not had the issues you've had.

jimmyb1978

Also you'll need to adjust your window or catchers or grease your seals.

mantecosa

AP1? Canards are worth it in an AP1.

edit: when I say ap1 I mean pre-facelift...

chrispayze

Won't do much with the roof down!

nomadicS2k

Agree with Jimmyb, get the basics checked, last time I was out there the car stable, it was only the backend that got a little light after a certain speed.

jimmyb1978

I was referring to his roof up scenario

chrispayze

Reread and retracted! Doh!

S2KIP

I'll get the roof greased again, it's been over 6 months since I last did it.

Pressures are all good, and suspension was checked over by TGM when I was there a few weeks ago and all was fine. I guess it's been a few months since the Geo was done, but wouldn't have thought it'd need checking more than once a year?

Car is 2006.

Chuck S

I was curious if the OEM rear "spoiler" and front lip did anything practical. Doesn't appear the rear spoiler does anything to aid stability. The CRs have that ugly wing to cut lift back there. Don't think there's any down-force applied but less lift.

These cars are a mess underneath and the open area under the rear bumper cover is like a scoop filled with high pressure air and lift. There are under body kits but they seem to be very expensive and I haven't noticed them discussed here in other than pure race cars.

I've only had my car to those speeds for very short periods of time, maybe a mile or two at a time, and didn't notice what you're experiencing in those very brief periods. I'm running Bridgestone RE-11A tires which might make a difference in grip.

130 on the autobahn? Keep an eye on the mirror for the big Audis flashing their lights!

-- Chuck